While the scene itself was rather short, it was perhaps the most beautiful scene to end the season with. That after conquering Yunkai, the freed slaves come out to see her, and with her announcing that they don't owe her anything in return, especially not their freedom. She cannot tell them how to live. The choice is theirs and theirs alone. With that, is when they all started to chant one word over and over again, Mhysa. Their word for "mother". Now, keep in mind that this is an emotional thing for Dany personally because, aside from her dragons, she cannot have children of her own. She then realizes what this means, how these people are looking at her, how they are calling out to her, and she walks past her Unsullied and into the crowd. Most will know her of people the Mother of Dragons, but this is the moment when she shows that she is more than just that. She is Mother of the People, and a mother cares for her children.

The scene from the finale, plus the passage from the book:

"Mhysa!" a brown-skinned man shouted at her. He had a child on his shoulders, a little girl, and she screamed the same word in her thin voice. "Mhysa! Mhysa!"

Dany looked at Missandei. "What are they shouting?"

"It is Ghiscari, the old pure tongue. It means 'Mother.'"

Dany felt a lightness in her chest. I will never bear a living child, she remembered. Her hand trembled as she raised it. Perhaps she smiled. She must have, because the man grinned and shouted again, and others took up the cry. "Mhysa!" they called. "Mhysa! MHYSA!" They were all smiling at her, reaching for her, kneeling before her. "Maela," some called her, while others cried "Aelalla" or "Qathei" or "Tato," but whatever the tongue it all meant the same thing. Mother, they are calling me Mother.

This scene just made me so, so happy. Dany has had a good number of badass moments, particularly in this season, but this scene was more heartfelt and uplifting. We know what she has done in terms of conquering slaver cities and freeing slaves, thus gaining an army and other fellow followers by her side, but she had yet to see how the now former slaves saw her. In the books after sacking Astapor she did organize a small council so the free people could create their own society and live peacefully, though the show didn't include that (understandably, since the scene was mostly about her acquiring the Unsullied and sacking the city.) Here, we see how the people see her. They love her, they appreciate what she did for them, and we see Dany overwhelmed by this. We see her take role of being their Mother, of being the one who will conquer and care for the People. When you look back at all she's accomplished, not just this season but from where she came from, this is such a beautiful and wonderful scene to end the season on.

AND HER SMILE. LOOK AT THAT SMILE. I JUST CAN'T. *__* AND THEY LIFTED HER UP AND SHE WAS PRACTICALLY CROWD SURFING. AND SHE SMILES SO WIDE WITH AFFECTION FOR THESE PEOPLE, AND HER DRAGONS FLYING FREELY ABOVE THEM. AND THAT PAN OUT ZOOM OF ALL THE PEOPLE + HER ARMY, SHOWING US PRECISELY WHAT SHE HAS GAINED THROUGHOUT THE SHOW SO FAR. BEAUTIFUL, JUST BEAUTIFUL. I LEGIT CRIED.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE EPISODE FOR ME, TBH.

What else happened in this episode:

** I am kind of disappointed we didn't get Lady Stoneheart in the finale, but I think it makes sense. Wasn't that introduction towards the end of A Storm of Swords anyway? I suspect that we'll be getting that surprise (hopefully) next season. I think ending the season on a high uplifting note is a good way to go, and Dany's "Mhysa" scene did the job right.

** We did, however, get RobbWind. They actually went through with it, holy shit. And the way they showed it, the fact that the horse whipped around to show how they sewn Grey Wind's head onto Robb's body. Brutal, just brutal, and just as grotesquely disturbing as described in the books. And poor Arya having to see that. :(((

** That whole scene actually was a huge gore fest. The fact we saw men getting slaughtered, burned alive, hung. It was like a continuation of the bloodbath from the last episode.

** Joffrey being a little shit, as always. But I think it's hilarious that Tywin, after Joffrey's outburst, basically told Cersei that her son needed a nap because he was cranky, and did so in the most insulting and condescending way possible. XD It was just brilliant. Tywin may be a prick, but he's strategic and pragmatic and knows how to play the game. He knows that wearing a crown doesn't make a good ruler, or someone who knows what they're doing.

** But poor Sansa. I'm sad we didn't get to see more of her reaction about Robb and her mother, considering that she wants more than anything to see her family again. :(

** DAVOS TO SAVE THE DAY! \O/ He is returning Gendry back to his original storyline.

** I saw this finale as a good way of foreshadowing what will happen next season. Remember that this is only focusing on half of the third book. We're getting a lot of build up for certain events that will definitely happen in the second half. Tyrion threatening Joffrey, Arya getting angrier and angrier about what has been done to her family and making her first kill, Shae saying that she would kill for Sansa, etc. It's a good way of setting up what is to come, particularly for the Purple Wedding that will supposedly happen early next season.

Overall: I really enjoyed this season. There were things that I wished they could have done better, or done without, but overall I really really loved what we did get. The Red Wedding, Dany sacking of slaver cities and having her moments to shine, the Tyrells, just a load of stuff that I am happy with. Can't wait for next season. :D

While I think that it's an excellent scene for Dany in terms of her character and who she is as a person, the way that they had chosen to portray it kind of literally threw the whole white liberator thing in my face. Like, I don't think that it could have been more literal in how they had chosen to do that scene- whether it was a deliberate attempt because that's the path that Dany does sort of embark on for a while or some other reason, it kind of made me cringe since I feel like there could've been a lot of other ways they could've handled the scene while achieving the same impact without the whole overtone, unless that overtone was the whole intent.

Yeah, we had gotten the intro of Stoneheart at the end of Storm, but she had been around for a good while before then, since she had been brought back about two or three days after her death? Which they could've managed, but I suppose we'll just see her early next season then?

I feel like there could've been a lot of other ways they could've handled the scene while achieving the same impact without the whole overtone, unless that overtone was the whole intent.

Yeah, it's hard to not see how troublesome that whole arrangement is. Whether it was accidental (because they filmed all her scenes in Morocco, having a lot of extras from there is a huge contributing factor) or if it's just an unfortunate state of how the show tends to make decisions. Because, let's not forget, they kind of got rid of most of her Dothraki followers who were supposed to have been by her side as they are in the books. Either way, it's definitely a questionable decision on how they portrayed the imagery in that particular scene. I wish it weren't the case, because the moment itself is quite beautiful. But, yeah.

Yeah, we had gotten the intro of Stoneheart at the end of Storm, but she had been around for a good while before then, since she had been brought back about two or three days after her death? Which they could've managed, but I suppose we'll just see her early next season then?

I'm thinking this will probably be the case. Probably going to be in the first or second episode, depending on how they arrange particular events.

Yeah, part of it could be chalked up to the location of the filming, but then just looking at the other choices that the show's been making, like you mentioned with her Dothraki followers along with a lot of the other directions they've taken thus far, really has me wondering.

I suppose they could actually put off actually showing Stoneheart on screen for a while, maybe till even halfway through the season, since the only other point of interaction that we see her with is in the end of AFFC, which if they split again, could be a while. But I can't imagine them splitting AFFC, since AFFC/ADWD is already split as it is.

I don't know if the show does it consciously, but since the actors are well aware of the many theories surrounding the possible connection between Dany and Jon, I'd like to this these are subtle nudge-winks to it.

I pre-ordered the paperback form of A Dance with Dragons, which will be released October 29 and have a new sample chapter for The Winds of Winter. I hope The Winds of Winter will at least be released in 2015.

That last scene was pretty intense, I agree with you. I'm happy that you liked it so much. I've always really loved Dany but people have been telling me that she does terrible things in books 4 and/or 5, which I haven't read yet, and now I'm all confused.

I was pleased with Grey Wind's head on Robb's body. I'm pleased whenever anything resembles the books.

I was bummed about Lady Stoneheart and Purple Wedding not happening, but I guess it makes sense to drag it all out. They should have waited until after the 6th book was published to start the show, anyway.

I've always really loved Dany but people have been telling me that she does terrible things in books 4 and/or 5, which I haven't read yet, and now I'm all confused.

She doesn't do terrible things so much as...make mistakes, so to speak. Big mistakes. Which do lead to terrible things happening that is beyond her control, and the more she tries to fix things the more shit gets fucked up. But I like that this happens because it shows that Dany is quite flawed, and like all characters in the series she has to get knocked down in order to rise up again.

I was pleased with Grey Wind's head on Robb's body. I'm pleased whenever anything resembles the books.

Same. The show is an adaptation and I know that they can't do everything from text, and sometimes I question their decisions on changing and altering things from the books. But when they get it right, they get it right.

I was bummed about Lady Stoneheart and Purple Wedding not happening, but I guess it makes sense to drag it all out.

I knew that the Purple Wedding wasn't going to happen until next season, but I was at least hoping for a little bit of Lady Stoneheart, at least her resurrection. That would've been a great cliffhanger to keep audiences on their toes for next season. Though it makes sense to space it out a bit.

::sigh:: I was disappointed about no Lady Stoneheart too :-/ The more I read about it from other book readers though, I guuuesss I understand why they left her out. But still.

I'm glad they gave Dany/Emilia Clarke a chance to shine this season because her storyline and the writing for that character last season was just awful. I definitely enjoyed season three more than I enjoyed season two, but I'm still overall very "meh" about the show, I guess.

I'm glad they gave Dany/Emilia Clarke a chance to shine this season because her storyline and the writing for that character last season was just awful.

I'm still really disappointed in how they handled her S2 storyline. The House of the Undying was supposed to have been epic, with all the visions and foreshadowing. But they just completely ignored it. Also the killing off her loyal Dothraki followers, when they are still alive in the books? Just, why Show? *sigh*

But yeah, I'm very happy with how they handled her storyline this season. I practically cried with happiness when they did the scene with her sacking Astapor. It was so glorious. :')